


I Never Meant To Break Your Heart

by ThatDarnLakeSiren



Category: Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay Arthur, Love Confessions, M/M, Reconciliation, Unrequited Love, Whump, bi lewis, just a bit really, reciprocated love, talking things out
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-08-20 22:00:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20235043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatDarnLakeSiren/pseuds/ThatDarnLakeSiren
Summary: Those eyes bore into him, haunting in their shock, their realization and great pain. So great it broke his heart...





	1. The Flames That Burn Come From The Fire That Warms

**Author's Note:**

> My interpretation of the aftermath of Hellbent. Watched the whole series recently and whoo, what a rush! All the fanworks I've read are great do far too, so I wanted to contribute.

_"I never meant to break your heart _  
_ I know "sorry"s not much, but its a start_  
_ I didn't realize that my happiness was your sorrow_  
_ Please hold on, hold on until tomorrow _

_Things will be brighter,_  
_ Your worries and fears lighter_  
_ I'll be here, I'll be here to help you_  
_ I'll be here, for you, for you _

_I'll help put you back together_  
_ With pieces of myself_  
_ You're worth the world_  
_ I'm hardly fair exchange_  
_ But I'll make it work, I'll keep you safe_  
_ Because I love you now and for forever _

_(I'll always love you, even if you love another)"_

\--ThatDarnLakeSiren

* * *

It was a foolproof plan. Well, 'plan' was a bit of a stretch. Lewis was largely playing things by ear, improvising as he chased Arthur down. The stolen truck, transformed into an extension of his domain, a fabrication of a place that would allow him to exact bloody, but magnificant revenge on his murderer. Apply his own justice to his death, that had gone unpunished. 

Frustratingly, Arthur hadn't recognized him, not until he revealed his face at the very end. Legs dangling, kicking pitifully, hands grasping desperately at Lewis's arm, his killer had spoken his name. Recognition at last, cutting through the fear of the spectre and mortal fear of death like a knife. 

Lewis dropped him over the edge the next moment. Arthur would not be given a chance to plead for his life, or make excuses. He wasn't going to be given a chance, just like Lewis hadn't had a chance. Falling off the recreated edge of a very deadly fall, the height capable of killing, even without the stalagmites jutting up from the floor. There was no telling whether one would pierce through Arthur's heart like it had the spectre's, or if it would crack open his skull. So long as it was fatal, his revenge would be exacted. Everything was going according to plan--

Those eyes bore into him, haunting in their shock, their realization and great pain. Pain so great it broke his heart... Lewis mentally flailed, surprised but hurting, his anchor dull, lacking any kind of glow and spiderwebbed with cracks.

What...? ...**WHAT?! _What had Arthur done?!_**

In an instance, the stalagmites were gone, the floor below replaced with a great pool of water.

Deeply set fury fought with concern, inklings of old memories fighting with long-kept beliefs and assumptions.

Arthur had killed him. Jealous of his relationship with Vivi, he'd pushed him over the edge in that cave and killed him. His best friend had killed him... 

But the Arthur of his memories, of when he'd been alive... Arthur would have never done such a thing. Arthur, who always made sure everyone was getting sleep and eating, the first to offer his coat when if was cold or his scarf. Arthur, who was good and kind, if easily frightened and cowardly when it came to physical confrontations and the supernatural.

No... Arthur never would have... but he _did_! But he _wouldn't have_... then _why_ did he _push me over the edge?! Why did he **kill me?!**_

Lewis growled and dropped down towards the lake, ready to menace some answers out of his might-be murderer, but his angry visage briefly vanished when he realized Arthur was nowhere to be seen. He scanned the shore, then the lake itself, but the blonde was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh for the love of..." He had no one but himself to blame for this one. In his split-second decision to turn the deadly floor to a life-saving lake (_**more than he deserved**_), Lewis had forgotten that Arthur couldn't swim. 

He willed the water away, leaving smooth ground in its wake. Arthur was sprawled awkwardly across the floor, clothes soaked through. He weakly coughed up water, pushing himself up with one arm. The other... Lewis paused, wondering how he hadn't noticed sooner. Arthur's left arm was gone, replaced with a metal prosthetic. The fingers twitched, sparking with purple energy, malfunctioning due to the spectre's energy.

Arthur hacked up some more water, rasping weakly for breath. He struggled to get his feet under him, but he was visibly shaking. He managed to turn onto his stomach before collapsing, shaking slightly as he lay there, limp, still....

Helpless. It would be so easy to snap his neck--

Lewis hook his head, moving to scoop the barely conscious man up, cradling Arthur close. The rage that had consumed him for so long felt more like reflex than true anger. Old memories kept surfacing, filling in the cracks between his anger, expanding and squeezing the anger out. Lewis's spirit wouldn't settle for reciprocal murder anymore. He needed answers. He needed to know _why_ Arthur had done it, before he could rightly exact his revenge.

He was growing tired, he realized suddenly; his energy was nearly spent. He had enough to maintain his form, but unlike the mansion, he didn't feel like he was going to fade into a forced hibernation-like rest. Maybe it was because he was essentially possessing a truck? So long as he didn't fade in the middle of the road... it should be fine. 

He climbed out the back of the freight truck, pausing briefly to take in his surroundings. He was... somewhere familiar. Kingsmen Repair Shop, Arthur's uncle Lance's business.

And crashed into the side of it was the Mystery Skulls van, the windshield busted in, back tire blown out... there was a withered, gray corpse of a familiar blue plant woman. Her torso was torn apart by shotgun fire. He couldn't see Vivi or Mystery or Lance anywhere. He felt a twinge of unease, but moved on.

Climbing inside the cabin, Lewis set Arthur into the seat next to him, buckled him in, and settled into the driver's seat. He had to shoo a Deadbeat that tried nibbling on his **_(murderer_**/best friend)'s prosthetic arm.

Then, they were off, cruising down the highway, towards the lot that once held his mansion.

Arthur mumbled under his breath, and Lewis glanced at him, but the blonde didn't wake. 

The specter shook his head with a sigh, focusing on the road ahead. He would get his answers... and Arthur would get what he deserved. 


	2. I'm sorry for my misdeeds, I never meant to make you bleed

"_Those nightmares knocking at my door_  
_ Keeping them out is such a chore _  
_ Muddling memory and reality_  
_ They won't leave me be, leave me be_  
  
_ I locked them up, tossed the key_  
_ But they keep seeping through the cracks_  
_ Of my mind, they keep finding me_  
_ I keep looking over my shoulder _  
_ Finding them creeping up my back_  
  
_ I tried to confront them, fruitlessly_  
_ They won't stop bleeding into reality _  
_ The true terror lies right in front me_  
_ Dare I let them in, let myself believe...?_  
  
_ (The truth standing here in front of my eyes?_  
_ Truth that bites and breaks and makes me cry...?)"_

\--ThatDarnLakeSiren

* * *

Lewis was dead.

...and he wanted Arthur dead, too.

The whole thing wasn't too difficult to wrap his head around, but it was his heart that refused to believe it. Sweet, gentle giant Lewis, who wouldn't hurt a fly and so often stood up for Arthur, protecting him and Vivi... he wouldn't want Arthur dead. It was unfathomable.

And yet... the mansion. Arthur had been singled out, separated from Vivi and Mystery. If Vivi hadn't intervened, he would have been dead. And right now... Lewis had essentially kidnapped him, chased him into a very literal dead-end, and tossed him over the edge... a long fall and sharp rock the only things he had to look forward too.

Arthur fell, down and down, clawing uselessly at the air. Lewis stood on the ledge above, a furious snarl on his face, eyes aglow, purple rings in his otherwise normal face. 

Arthur couldn't muster up the energy to scream, nor had he the will to anyway. He felt frozen in a way, a dozen thoughts flashing through his head, a hundred memories crackling and creeping at the back of his mind. He couldn't make a peep, so he just stared, thoughts whirling madly, his heart breaking into pieces. 

Lewis was dead. Arthur had found him but he was too late. Too late... too late... too late... it was all his fault... all his fault... if only he'd managed to... to ignore the voice...

"_Arthur_."

...fought back harder... stopped the... the... but he hadn't, and his own idiocy had cost him dearly... so, so dearly--

"_Arthur!"_

Arthur's head jerked upright, finally rousing from whatever twisted nightmare he'd been trapped in this time. He groaned softly, his body making it very apparent that he'd overtaxed it somehow. He ached all over, his face and arm stung from cuts or maybe scrapes, his left arm--he jolted, blinking woozily at his prosthetic arm. That was... strange. He didn't normally sleep with it on... it felt oddly numb, too...

Another oddity... he was sleeping up front--

His head jerked up again, sleepiness leaving him in an instant, panic taking over as he instinctively grabbed for a steering wheel that wasn't there and stomped at an equally nonexistence brake pedal. His breathing was coming irregularly, the jolt of adrenaline and, subsequently, awareness, giving him ample time to realize that no, he hadn't fallen asleep at the wheel. He wasn't at risk of crashing the van. 

It also allowed him to realize that he wasn't in the van, period. Dark base, purple etching and highlights... slowly, he looked to the left... it was little surprise that Lewis was there. The purple spectre was driving them along at a steady pace, three small, glowing, purple blobs with glowing yellow eyes curled up in his lap, hanging over the seat and his shoulder. Lewis didn't look at him or acknowledge him in any way, gaze firmly set on the road. 

He blinked and rubbed at his eyes... his prosthetic was still acting up, however. So instead of simply rubbing the sleep from his left eye, Arthur wound up smacking himself in the face. He yelped, and carefully clutched the area with his flesh hand, a tired whine escaping him. He was done, he was burned out. He wanted to curl up under a mound of blankets and sleep until he wasn't frightened and anxious and in pain--

"Arthur... Are... are you alright? "

He started and looked up, left eye wincing half-shut. It was Lewis's voice, but there was... something wrong. Something of the quality of the sound, a slight echo perhaps, that twisted the sweet baritone into something that sent shivers down Arthur's spine--

Oh. Lewis was staring him down. Lewis had... asked him a question. He didn't seem as angry as before... or at all. Agitated maybe, but he largely seemed... concerned?

His jaw worked, struggling to think of a reply. "I'm fine." He lied, instinctively trying to mitigate his friends concern.

Those eyesockets narrowed slightly, Lewis shaking his head. "Let me see." Hs demanded, in a tone that brooked no argument. 

Arthur didn't argue, just slowly lowered his hand, turning fully towards Lewis so he could see his face. 

The spectre slowly reached out, lifting his chin, examining his face. Arthur shivered; Lewis's hand was surprisingly warm, bordering on too-hot, but he didn't dare say anything. He trembled silently, not daring to move, let alone breathe. After a few moments scrutiny, the spectre dropped his hand and turned back to the road.

"You'll be fine." Lewis grunted, refusing to look at him. "Might wind up with a black eye."

"R-right..." Arthur turned his attention on his prosthetic. It was numb, which probably wasn't good, and the fingers twitched slightly, beyond his control. He wished he had his tools on hand, but he couldn't do much about it right now. "Probably best to take it off..." he mumbled, rolling up his sleeve and undoing the straps, easing it off the dock in his arm. The motions were mechanical, the action in and of itself practised and worn into his memory. He'd spent many a long night up, and even exhausted to the point of collapse he'd remove the prosthetic first. It was uncomfortable, sleeping with it on.

"...what happened?" Lewis asked, a slight growl to his words nearly hiding his horror. 

Arthur started, prosthetic in hand, hoakcing from Lewis to his stump. The scars that crisscrossed it. He pulled his sleeve down quickly, avoiding Lewis' gaze as he clutched his arm.

"I lost it." He mumbled, a whirl of anxiety threatening to sweep him away. He shut his eyes tight, fighting back tears as he sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, then again, trying to establish some level of calm within himself.

"...I can see that." Lewis paused, then continued, "How did you lose it?"

Arthur clung to the idea of calm, even as he lost any that he'd managed to create, tears trucking down his cheeks. "A-animal got it. Something big. In the cave we lost you in." The words spilled out, and suddenly the cab grew hotter.

"...where you... lost me?" Lewis slowly repeated, a burning rage in his voice.

Arthur flinched, pushing himself against the door, daring to peek at Lewis, which was a mistake; the spectre was glaring at him, his hair flickering into a wildfire, threatening to explode.

"Is that the lie you tell yourself?!" Lewis snapped, the blobs beside him turning into sharp-toothed little blobs, hissing and growling amongst themselves. 

"W-what?! No!?" Arthur sputtered, breathing plucking up erratically. Oh God, what had happened?! Had Lewis gotten trapped and died there? Had whatever taken his arm killed his friend? His stump throbbed, a reminder of that pain, the numbness, the _voices_, oh God the voices--

"What voices? Arthur?" Lewis' voice, mich calmer and concerned broke through Arthur's panicked, anxious internal spiral. "Arthur?" He repeated, a slight hesitance to his words, the anger having long-since evaporated.

"V-voices" Arthur repeated, struggling to find the right words, struggling to put the words together in a way that made sense... "Wh-when we went to the cave... there was a v-voice...a lot of voices. Trying to... to convince me to do things. T-telling me w-why I sh-should... should... should hurt you g-guys. I-I-I thought it was just my intru-intrusive thoughts...ignores them b-b-best I could.

"Th-then... then... my arm and face and b-body went numb... I... I didn't feel in control of myself. A-as though s-s-s-_something _else was controlling my body..."

Lewis was staring at him intently, eyesockets wide with shock, silent for now.

Arthur huffed out a breath, rubbing the tears from his eyes. His breath hitched slightly, but he forced himself to continue. Whether for his own-self torture or simply because... he'd never told anyone this before. He didn't think anyone would believe him but... it was undoubtedly something... supernatural that had taken over his body.

"Th-then... it gets fuzzy but... the animal attacked me then... t-t-tore off my arm. I... I-I remember Mystery barking and... and n-next thing I can r-recall is waking up in the h-h-hospital. You were g-g-gone. Vivi didn't... d-didn't remember you." Arthur sniffled and wiped at his eyes again, exhaustion wearing at him.

"I... I've been looking f-for you..." he finished, squeezing his stump slightly to alleviate that phantom pain.

Lewis mulled over his story, then asked, softly, carefully, "Arthur...do you not remember?"

Arthur glanced at him, confused. His mental capacities were not exactly running at full capacity. Well, less than usual at least, between nightmares and long nights spent up and driving.

"Remember... what?" He asked, exhausted.

"In the cave. You pushed me over the edge." A hint of anger arose, but Lewis made a notable effort to squash it. 

Arthur stared, a piece of the puzzle sliding into place, and the tears welled up, uncontrollable. "...th-th-that ...wasn't a n-nightmare?" He breathed, the words coming without him meaning too.

The nightmare... the cave, awash in green, Lewis and himself checking out the upper pathway... the voices, the numbness, the entity taking control... his vision darkening in one eye, his left arm thrusting out, shoving Lewis over the edge. The panic and internal pain, his heart shattering as he watched his best friend and long-time crush fall, fall down and get impaled on the jutting rocks below. The voices, now one voice, cackling maniacally... the sharp, sudden, explosive pain in his arm, cutting through the numbness, his scream drowned out by the shriek of the voices...

Not a nightmare but a memory, dismissed as mere imaginations time and time again. Dismissed as being nothing more than a worst fear, his mind conjuring up something horrible as he searched for Lewis.

"...I killed you... oh god... L-Lewis... God I'm... oh my God I'm..." what? Sorry? How could he apologise for this?! There _was no apologizing for this_! It was all his fault that Lewis was dead! All his fault! If only he'd fought back harder against the green entity, if only he hadn't bern so weak; no wonder Lewis wanted him dead. He deserved it, after what he'd done...

Quite unexpectedly, warm arms wrapped around him, bringing him face-first with an equally warm, purple chest. Arthur squeaked, fearing his end, but the warm, tight embrace was slowly calming him. The warmth felt good to his aching body, and he absolutely melted when Lewus started running warm fingers through his hair.

"Calm down. You're safe now Arthur." I'm not mad... I forgive you." Lewis softly told him, the words familiar and comforting. 

A laugh bubbled up in Arthur's throat, mostly at the absurdity of it all, somewhat manic. "Why?! I hardly deserve your forgiveness." his laughter choked him, twisting into sobs. "I-I dont deserve this."

"Arthur... it's not your fault. Whatever was in the cave is to blame." Lewis gently insisted, still holding him close. "I forgive you."

Arthur gave in, burying his face into Lewis' chest, sobbing and apologizing. Not once did Lewis try to push him away, keeping up with his comforting actions and repeated his reassurances; I forgive you, I'm not mad anymore, its alright, I'm here, I forgive you, Arthur.

On the cusp of sleep, he managed to murmur just one last thing, 

"I-I-I'm s-s-so sorry Lew'... I l-l-love you..." 

As he drifted off, Arthur thought he heard Lewis rumble, 

_"Love you too, Arthur."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *offers tissues and hot cocoa to y'all*
> 
> Hope y'all enjoyed! Kudos are hugs and comments are love! Love helps me write more chapters!


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